This invention pertains to liquid chromatography equipment, and in particular to a universal adapter coupling which is used to adapt a liquid chromatography device, such as a column, so that the column can be connected to other liquid chromatography equipment without tools and while accommodating a variety of different fittings which normally are not interchangeable.
Liquid chromatography equipment is fabricated by a number of different manufacturers. Many of the manufacturers have adopted unique dimensions for couplings for their equipment which are not compatible with couplings of other manufacturers. As a result, the equipment of different manufacturers is either not interchangeable or can be made interchangeable only with the use of connecting tubing and low volume unions. Doing so, however, adds dead volume to the chromatography equipment and requires the use of bulky, space-consuming fittings. In addition, the mode of adapting between two types of equipment provided thereby is usually incompatible with the equipment of many other manufacturers of liquid chromatography equipment, requiring substitution of different adapters if the equipment of yet different manufacturers is to be interconnected.
The primary use of the invention is for universally adapting liquid chromatography columns so that they are compatible with a variety of fitting types of various manufacturers. Alltech Associates, Inc., Deerfield, Ill., the assignee of the present invention, has in the past, sold a universal adapter kit which can be connected to a column to adapt the column to fit the chromatography equipment of manufacturers other than that of the column. However, the kit requires an individual ferrule and a particular male or female connecting fitting depending on the type of column being adapted. Thus, while the kit is "universal", different parts must be used to adapt various columns. No single part is uniquely available to itself adapt any of a number of different columns having incompatible fittings.